I like the polished sound of "Back in Black." It's devilish fun to imagine what certain other iconic rock albums would sound like with that same polish. "Double Nickels on the Dime"? "Exile in Guyville"?

I'd like to hear what KISS would have sounded like with some AC/DC production.

I love those KISS songs but they sound more wimpy than Morrisey at a petting zoo.

Kenneth Burns wrote:I like the polished sound of "Back in Black." It's devilish fun to imagine what certain other iconic rock albums would sound like with that same polish. "Double Nickels on the Dime"? "Exile in Guyville"?

Yes. What would New Day Rising have sounded like with some bass you can hear on it?

Really, it's just the first three that sound like total ass.I've never had a problem with the sound on Destroyer[i], [i]Rock and Roll Over or Love Gun, and those are the ones that matter the most anyway, IMHO. That said, those early albums are a true rarity in that the remastered CD editions sound waaaaay better than the original vinyl ever did.

Man, there's a whole lot of white folks being name-checked here ... which is fine, but in the interest of throwing a bit of color into the mix (so to speak):

Marvin Gaye, What's Going On - It took me awhile to appreciate the brilliance of Marvin Gaye and it's hard to argue that this was a seminal work, both for him and the label. There's plenty of great Motown production to point to, but in a whole lot of ways this album sounds unlike anything that came before it.

Sly and the Family Stone, There's a Riot Goin' On - I'm convinced this is what heroin sounds like. When I was first really digging into R&B and funk, I overlooked this album because it wasn't the raucous Sly sound that immediately grabbed my attention. This is a great post-bar-time record and was, for years, the album I'd put on after a long night on the town as I waited for the bed to stop spinning. In retrospect, that may not have been the wisest choice, but damn it's fluid and soothing. In my opinion there's not another quite like it, before or since.

Stevie Wonder, Innervisions - Another brilliant all-hours-of-the-night record and a great headphone excursion. This album is deep, sonically speaking and otherwise.

Worth noting that these albums share the distinction of being produced by the artists themselves.

Indeed. Hadn't meant to conflate producing and engineering, though I could see how that might be confusing given the thread title and my descriptions. Just noting the common denominator, is all. I tend to be of the school of though that no amount of heroic production can save a horribly engineered album (though, in all honesty, plenty of my favorite records are/were terribly engineered, so my own taste sort of belies that conviction).

Also recorded at the same studio at the same time with the same engineers as Innervisions was the Isley Brothers 3+3 which I like better. Stevie's album is great but I love 3+3.

Mean Scenester wrote:I tend to be of the school of though that no amount of heroic production can save a horribly engineered album (though, in all honesty, plenty of my favorite records are/were terribly engineered, so my own taste sort of belies that conviction).

Ditto.

I like a well engineered album but I'll take good songs and shitty engineering over perfect engineering and so-so songs.